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This week it emerged that Harry and Meghan, who are president and vice-president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, are considering moving to Africa.

A formal plan is being drawn up by Sir David Manning, a former special adviser on constitutional and international affairs to both Dukes, although the palace insists it is in its infancy.

Certainly the choice of Africa is an inspired move as the Royal ­family has close ties to the continent: The Queen spent her 21st birthday in Cape Town, where she pledged “the whole of my life” to the ­service of “our great Imperial ­family” and was in Kenya five years later when her father died.

And both William and Harry spent gloriously happy gap years in Africa, wooing their future wives there and forging ties with the continent – Prince William is patron of the wildlife charity Tusk while Prince Harry has called Botswana “his second home” and founded his HIV charity Sentebale in Lesotho.

The royals at church on the Queen's 93rd birthday (Image: Eamonn McCormack/PA)

Royal watchers commented on the lack of body language between the Fab Four at Sandringham (Image: Daily Express)

However, William now shoulders the burden of responsibility, which falls unequally on different members of the Royal family.

As a future Prince of Wales and later King, he cannot head off to the other side of the world.

Meanwhile, Harry – in common with his predecessors Princess Margaret and Prince Andrew – can live life without the shackles of the crown and has the freedom that they both once craved but now William can only dream about.

Sadly the move will only exacerbate rumours of tensions between the two couples, dubbed the Fab Four in their first official engagement together for their Royal Foundation.

Palace insiders insist that they are simply “at a fork in the road” – William is actually believed to be supportive of his brother’s plans – but that will do little to quell stories of a rift.

Before Meghan joined the Firm, the two brothers were extremely close, and when Kate came on the scene, they spent many a public engagement as a trio – at that stage, Harry was extremely close to his sister-in-law.

Marriage and fatherhood strengthened the ties between them – Prince Harry adored spending time with his nephews and niece, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Harry, Kate and William were great friends before Meghan came on the scene (Image: Richard Pohle – WPA Pool/Getty)

Rivals: Kate and Meghan are rumoured not to get on (Image: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty )

Now Harry is about to become a father himself – Meghan is due to give birth any day – they no longer lean on each other in the same way but turn to their wives for support.

A source said recently: “The brothers have leaned on each other and looked after each other since their mother died. But now they have their own families, they no longer rely on each other as before. They have become different people with different outlooks on life.”

It is no secret that Kate, who grew up in the Home Counties and went to Marlborough, a top public school, is not cut from the same cloth as the American, who is more comfortable in the public eye because of her training as an actress.

But within six months of Meghan joining the Royal family, there were rumours of a froideur between the two women, sparked by suggestions that Kate was in tears after taking Princess Charlotte to a ­fitting for her bridesmaid’s dress for Meghan’s wedding.

Now the two Dukes have split their households: not only did Harry and Meghan relocate their private office to Buckingham Palace but they also distanced their home lives, moving 22 miles down the road from Kensington Palace to Frogmore Cottage, Windsor, ­exacerbating the rumours.

Suggestions of a rift were not helped on Easter Sunday when the brothers gathered with the Royal family to attend church and celebrate the Queen’s 93rd birthday.

While William and Kate walked together into St George’s Chapel Windsor for the Easter Matins service, Harry arrived with Peter and Autumn Phillips and left with Zara and Mike Tindall – his pregnant wife remained at home.

Again, they did nothing to dampen the speculation on Monday, the day before Prince Louis’ first birthday, when Kensington Palace released three photographs of the toddler, crawling and covered in moss, taken by Kate at their country hideaway Anmer Hall.

Although the snaps, of endangered rhinos, orcas and elephants were released to highlight the “opportunity to learn about, celebrate and continue to safeguard our planet, our home” on Earth Day, the ­timing was unfortunate.

Sadly the growing distance between the two brothers would dismay their late mother, who wanted both her sons to share her compassion.

“I want my boys to have an understanding of people’s emotions, their insecurities, people’s distress and their hopes and dreams,” she once said.

She and Prince Charles worked hard to ensure their sons had equal amounts of time and affection, but “others in the family” focused on William as he was the future King.

Has Meghan created a rift between Harry and his brother? (Image: Getty)

Harry complained that “it was not fair” that his great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, fussed over William.

Diana wanted her sons to have as normal an upbringing as possible – a sentiment which both her sons share.

She treated them to trips to theme parks and the cinema and even queued up for McDonald’s to show him how their peers lived.

Later she visited hospitals and homeless shelters with them, to instil in them empathy.

“I will fight for my children on any level so they can reach their potential as human beings and in their public duties,” she said.

While William was always the more serious of the siblings, Harry was happy-go-lucky, leading to her nickname for him: Good King Harry.

Once, when Diana was driving, she heard the two of them arguing.

Harry said: “It’s all right for you William. You’re going to be King. But I can do anything I want.”